Sapo National Park is located in Sinoe County, Liberia. It is the largest protected rainforest area in the country, the first national park established in Liberia, and has the second-largest area of primary tropical rainforest in West Africa after Taï National Park in neighboring Côte d'Ivoire. Activities such as agriculture, construction, fishing, hunting, human settlement, and logging are not allowed in the park.
The park is found within the Upper Guinean forest ecosystem, a region known as a biodiversity hotspot with "the highest mammal species diversity of any region in the world," according to Conservation International. It is also part of the Western Guinean lowland forests ecoregion, as classified by the World Wide Fund for Nature's ecoregions system.
History
In 1976, the Liberian Forestry Development Authority was created to manage and protect the country’s forest resources. In 1977, the Division of Wildlife and National Parks was formed under the leadership of Alexander Peal, who led the group until 1990. By 1982, seven protected areas were proposed in Liberia, including three national parks. Of these, only Sapo National Park—named after the local Sapo (or Sao) tribe—was officially established in 1983 by the People’s Redemption Council. At that time, the park covered an area of 1,308 km² (505 square miles) east of the Sinoe River and south of the Putu Mountains. The park’s original boundaries and management plan were created by the Division of Wildlife and National Parks, working with the World Wildlife Fund, the World Conservation Union, and the Peace Corps.
Throughout its history, Sapo National Park has faced challenges such as illegal farming, hunting, logging, and mining. These problems were made worse by extreme poverty and political instability in the country. However, in the early 1990s, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre reported that rural development projects and growing acceptance of the park helped reduce conflicts. Until the 1990s, poaching was limited due to programs funded by the United States Agency for International Development, which involved local villagers in protecting the park.
During the First Liberian Civil War, Sapo National Park was controlled by rebel forces, and much of its infrastructure and equipment were damaged or destroyed. This included a wildlife rehabilitation and orphanage facility built in 1989 with support from Friends of Animals. Of 33 park employees, at least three were killed, and seven became refugees. The amount of illegal resource extraction during the war is disputed. John Terborgh, a professor at Duke University, stated that logging was widespread during the war. However, Alexander Peal reported that logging was limited, and farming and hunting pressures were reduced due to population displacement and the unsafe conditions during the war, which led to an increase in some animal populations. William Powers, a Catholic Relief Services official in Liberia from 1999 to 2001, noted that the park became a wartime refuge for small groups of people who hunted for food. Logging and poaching increased after the war ended in 1996.
In 2002, claims emerged that President Charles Taylor sold logging rights worth millions of U.S. dollars to a Hong Kong-based company, the Oriental Timber Company, for activities inside the park. The money was said to be used to support Taylor’s forces during the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003) or to pay mercenaries from South Africa. Liberia’s Minister of Information, Reginald Goodridge, denied the claims, stating that no evidence of logging was found during a National Geographic Society visit to the park.
Fauna and Flora International and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) worked with Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority and the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL) to restart the park’s management. This effort, mainly funded by the Darwin Initiative of the United Kingdom and the WWF from 2000 to 2002, aimed to re-establish park management, gain support from local communities, and improve Liberia’s ability to manage conservation. The SCNL also received a grant from the Whitley Foundation to monitor the park’s large mammals. Conservation International Liberia was involved in landscape projects in southeast Liberia connected to the park.
Progress in creating protected areas in Liberia has been slow. Sapo National Park, established in 1983, was the country’s first protected area. The Sapo National Park Act, passed on October 10, 2003, expanded the park to 1,804 km² (697 square miles), increasing its size by more than 37%. The law recognized the park as central to a large forest area in the Upper Guinea Forest Ecosystem, important for protecting biodiversity in Liberia and West Africa. At the same time, the 135 km² (33,359 acres) East Nimba Nature Reserve, located on the border with Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire, was created as Liberia’s second protected area.
After the end of the Second Liberian Civil War, new threats emerged for the park. During the war’s final months, some people moved into the park to escape the conflict or to harvest timber and search for gold. After the war, more people entered the park, leading to a gold rush. Many of these people were hunters, including former fighters, who killed animals to sell as meat. By March 2005, an estimated 5,000 people lived in the park, according to the United Nations Mission in Liberia. Efforts were made to remove these people, but the park was not fully cleared until late August to early September 2005, with the help of conservationists, the Liberian government, and United Nations peacekeepers.
Because of its remote location and lack of visitor amenities such as housing or trails, few people visit Sapo National Park. Entry requires approval from the Forestry Development Authority. No roads lead into the park, so visitors must travel on foot. The park has no established trails.
Geography and climate
Sapo National Park is located in Sinoe County in southwestern Liberia. The park covers an area of 1,804 km (697 sq mi). It is bordered by the Putu Mountains to the north and the Sinoe River to the west. The park has a flat and wet landscape that supports a large area of forest with no human homes. The southeastern part of the park has low ground about 100 m (328 ft) high with gentle hills, while the northern part has higher ground about 400 m (1,312 ft) high with steep ridges. Many small streams and rivers flow between these ridges. The Sinoe River is the largest river in the park. Mount Putu, which rises to 640 m (2,100 ft), is the highest point in the park.
The park has a tropical climate, with temperatures between 22 and 28 °C (72–82 °F). The forest has an average humidity of 91%. In the 1980s, the town of Basintown, 4 km (2 mi) south of the park’s headquarters, received an average of 2,596 mm (100 in) of rain each year. The dry season in the park lasts from November to April, and the wet season lasts from May to October. January and December are the driest months, while May and August are the wettest. July has a short period of less rain, sometimes lasting into August. During the dry season, many small streams dry up, leaving behind sandy and rocky riverbeds. Larger rivers also shrink, exposing waterfalls and sandbars. In the wet season, river levels can rise more than 4 m (13 ft) in one night, flooding forests near the rivers.
Biodiversity
Liberia has the largest remaining part of the Upper Guinean forest ecosystem, with about 42% of the forest still present. The rest of the Upper Guinean forest is found in other countries: Côte d'Ivoire has 28%, Ghana has 16%, Guinea has 8%, Sierra Leone has 5%, and Togo has 1%. Only about 40-45% of Liberia’s original forest remains, and less than 30% of its land is covered by natural forest. These forests used to be connected, but now they are broken into separate sections due to logging, roads, farming, and human settlements. Before the civil war, Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority reported that about 35% of the original forest was undisturbed, 45% was disturbed but still productive, and 20% was disturbed and unproductive. Sapo National Park is one of Liberia’s last large areas of tropical lowland rainforest and one of the least disturbed rainforests in West Africa. It is the second-largest area of primary tropical rainforest in West Africa after Taï National Park in Côte d'Ivoire.
Sapo National Park has a high number of plant species, many of which are found only in this area. A 1983 study found that 63% of the park is primary or mature secondary forest, 13% is swamp forest, 13% is seasonally flooded forest, and 11% is young secondary forest. Trees in the park can grow up to 70 meters (230 feet) tall. The forest canopy ranges in height from 12 to 32 meters (39 to 105 feet), with an average height of 25 meters (82 feet). Some plant species found in the park include the legumes Tetraberlinia tubmaniana and Gilbertiodendron splendidum, and the tree Brachystegia leonensis.
Sapo National Park is a key area for biodiversity and unique species. It once had about 125 mammal species and 590 types of birds, including several threatened species like the African golden cat, Gola malimbe, Liberian mongoose, white-breasted guineafowl, and white-necked rockfowl. The park is also home to the African civet, African fish eagle, grey parrot, giant forest hog, great blue turaco, speckle-throated otter, water chevrotain, three species of pangolin, seven species of monkey (including the endangered Diana monkey), crocodiles, leopards, bee-eaters, egrets, hornbills, kingfishers, rollers, and sunbirds. The park is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it supports large numbers of bird species.
Before Sapo National Park was officially created in 1983, no detailed studies had been done on chimpanzee populations in Liberia. Later surveys confirmed that western chimpanzees live in the park, mainly in the center and western parts, with population estimates ranging from 500 to 1,640. Local Sapo people respect chimpanzees and have a tradition of not hunting them.
Seven species of duiker antelopes live in the park, including the vulnerable Jentink’s duiker and zebra duiker. Bay duikers and Maxwell’s duikers are common in the area.
Sapo National Park is home to the pygmy hippopotamus, an endangered species protected by Liberia’s Wildlife and National Park Act of 1988. The pygmy hippopotamus is found only in West Africa, and its wild population is estimated to be fewer than 3,000 individuals. Conservation efforts have been most successful in Sapo National Park, where protection is strong. According to the IUCN Species Survival Commission, Sapo National Park is the only suitable area for conserving the pygmy hippopotamus. In February 2008, cameras in the park captured the first photographs of pygmy hippos in Liberia, confirming their survival after civil wars and poaching.
The endangered African forest elephant also lives in Sapo National Park. Early estimates from the 1980s suggested up to 500 elephants, but by the end of the decade, numbers were between 313 and 430. However, recent surveys using dung counts are considered unreliable by the IUCN.